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The Guild Counsel: Raid wipe, now what!

Karen Bryan — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Guilds, Opinion, The Guild Counsel, Miscellaneous

Whether you're a guildleader or not, there's always one single moment that everyone dreads in an MMO: the wipe. It's caused sleepless nights, tons of gray hairs, and in some cases, the breakup of a guild. The first few seconds after a raid wipe resemble that scene from Speed:

"Pop quiz, hot shot. There are dozens of players attacking a mob, it's at one percent, your tanks drop, and you wipe. What do you do?"

If you've ever been Keanu Reaves on that out of control bus, read on for a few helpful tips on what to do when everything hits the fan.

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The Guild Counsel: Raid wipe, now what! originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 10 Mar 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: Are you a leader or follower?

Justin Olivetti — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind

Today we want to know one very simple fact from you: Are you a leader or follower in game?

Are you the take charge, "Follow me into the gaping maw of hell, gentlemen!" figure who grabs the reins of every situation? Do you get disgruntled when a group sits around, twiddling its thumbs because nobody can make up his mind? Are you a guild master, an officer, a raid leader or even a community leader for your game? Do you enjoy creating teams and being the one calling all the shots? Does being a leader even give you a heady rush of power?

Or are you a laid back, "You guys decide what we're going to do and I'll do it!" gamer who likes lining up behind someone else? Is it less stressful being a follower because you can just play without having to worry about organizing and figuring things out too often? Is your personality just incompatible with being the go-to guy or gal? Would you much rather have someone take care of the big details so you can enjoy the smaller things in life?

In MMOs, are you a leader or follower?

The Daily Grind: Are you a leader or follower? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 17 Aug 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Anti-Aliased: Leadership tips from a former roleplaying raid officer

Seraphina Brennan — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 23:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Tips and tricks, PvE, Opinion, Anti-Aliased

"Roleplaying" and "raid" both in the same sentence? Blasphemy! Yet, that was my position back in World of Warcraft, and I certainly roleplayed while participating in PvP and massive PvE (almost akin to raids) in The Matrix Online before its demise. Before all of that, I was a roleplaying guild leader in Final Fantasy XI and Phantasy Star Online, so I've been around guilds for a long, long time.

If there has been any constant throughout my long string of positions as guild leader, linkshell leader, faction leader, and raid officer it has been thus -- leadership is tough. Sure you can surround yourself with raid guides, memorize every battle perfectly, and be wearing the most epic of epic gear, but if you don't learn how to work with others then you're most likely doomed to fail.

Raiding and multi-man content means working as a team, and that means someone's got to step up to the plate to take the reins. Leading a group or raid isn't easy, but I can tell you that it's well, well worth it. To that end, if you're just starting out on the path of leadership or are looking for a few tips to help out your raiding group, I think I might have some advice for you guys.

(Editor's Note: Sorry about the glitch! Part 2 is now available!)

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Anti-Aliased: Leadership tips from a former roleplaying raid officer originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 29 Jan 2010 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Anti-Aliased: Serious business guys, serious business

Seraphina Brennan — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Game mechanics, PvP, Raiding, Endgame, Grouping, PvE, Opinion, Anti-Aliased

This is one of those quintessential arguments that pops up time and time again amongst gamers, guilds, groups, and communities. It's an argument that divides people, pisses off people, and causes countless more gamers to alienate other gamers. How serious should you be about playing your game?

Of course we laugh about a topic like this one. Games aren't suppose to be serious, that's why they're games! They're suppose to be fun and enjoyable. If you're not having fun, then you're doing something seriously wrong. For the most part, all of this is true. Yet, there are small segments of the games that we play that actually can require everyone to sit down and "get serious."

We see it in raiding tactics, player vs. player tactics, loot distribution, and many other areas (including the entire universe of EVE Online, which seems to be played very seriously.) We've even dedicated a segment of our culture to this type of behavior -- the "hardcore" crowd.

So, let's go forward and look at the question, "Are games getting too serious?"

Continue reading Anti-Aliased: Serious business guys, serious business

Anti-Aliased: Serious business guys, serious business originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: How do you say 'shut up'?

Krystalle Voecks — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind

Yesterday, Matt Low of the our sister site WoW Insider and the very awesome World of Matticus blog pointed out a fairly interesting conversation going on over at PlusHeal. Apparently, the original poster had been using the phrase 'shut up' during a raid to try to quiet down people cross-chattering over voice comms, but after dealing with the upset it caused, they're looking for something new and more effective instead of 'shut up'.

Having been a group/raid leader myself, I can say in all honesty that this is absolutely one of my pet peeves; talking during instructions/pulls or loot distribution. It distracts from the important things and can cause quite a bit of confusion. On the flip side, clamping down on cross-chatter too much will make a group or raid feel less like fun with friends and more like a second job. As such, this morning we thought we'd ask you - how do you tell your group to quiet down without sounding like the guy from the Onyxia Wipe animation? (Link language NSFW) Are there any phrases or methods you've found effective to quiet a noisy group down without ruffling feathers? Or sometimes are you justified in telling people to shut it?

The Daily Grind: How do you say 'shut up'? originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 06 Mar 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Anarchy Online update adds raid interface, turns zones into instances

Samuel Axon — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Anarchy Online, Patches, News items

Anarchy Online's version 17.1 update went live last week. It added a complete raid interface to the game, allowing players to combine up to six teams into a raid group with its own chat channel and loot rules. The interface will allow raid leaders to move players between teams, and every player in the raid group will be able to monitor the vitals of other raid group members.

Additionally, a handful of AO's existing playfields -- Sectors 13, 28 and 35 to start with -- have become raid instances. That means that raid groups can take these encounters on at their own pace and without competition. Funcom plans to do this to more playfields in the future.

The update also features your standard assortment of bug fixes and gameplay and balance tweaks. Read the patch notes at the AO website for details.

Anarchy Online update adds raid interface, turns zones into instances originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 29 Sep 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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